Silent Night
by Koholos
Summary: Our lives are better left to chance. I could have missed the pain, but I'd have had to miss the dance." -- Garth Brooks. SasuSaku (tough critics welcome and desired)
1. Standing Outside the Fire

Well, my first Naruto fanfic, and indeed my first fanfic period. Though I have been writing fiction for a few years, I never even thought of trying some fanfic. Well, I hope you enjoy it.  
I consider this the first chapter, (though I'd usually use the term scene for it)

Enjoy! And feel free to rip it apart as much as you want in the review. I can always use some help on improving my writing.

(This is an edit, to increase the readability of it.)

**DISCLAIMER:** _I do not own any of the Naruto characters, nor any of the original series idea. The ideas put forth in this story, which are not expressly mentioned in the episodes) are all conceived by me, however._

Sasuke stood there, staring off into the sunset, the wind grasping at his hair... He watched as the sky painted itself a brilliant reddish hue, and then, as the sun slowly slipped behind the hills, the sky faded into a rich inky night...

He heard the soft step of feet as a person stepped up behind him... He put his hands to the pouch at his side, expecting a sneak attack, but instead, he heard a voice.

"Sasuke-kun?" The voice was Sakura's but it sounded confused, as if she had not expected to find him here watching the sunset.

"What?"

He could feel her looking at him for a few seconds, sizing him up. "I wondered why you were here. Your house is on the other side of town."

He didn't know how to explain. How to tell her what this place was to him. That this was the place where his family had gone on a picnic, back when he was little, and that this was the only memory he had of them... But she would never understand. After all, she blamed all of Naruto's faults on the fact that he was an orphan. "Watching for an attack."

Sakura stared at the back of Sasuke's head for a few minutes, not knowing what to do. She was sure he wasn't waiting for an attack, no matter what he said. What was he hiding? "Oh. Well, do you want help?"

"No." There was no pause, no hesitation

She stood there for another minute. "Well, then, do you mind if I sit with you, while you watch?"

Again there was no pause. "I don't have any control over what you do or don't do."

She frowned. "That isn't what I asked."

There was silence for a few moments. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but at the same time, neither was it all that comforting. Sakura wondered what he was thinking.

Finally, Sasuke nodded. "Yeah. Come and sit."

She did so. Slowly, hesitantly, she crept over and sat beside him. She sat there silently, not wanting to push him, not wanting to break the silence, content to just sit there, beside him.**  
**


	2. Like Moths to a Flame

Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the characters, or the original idea. Where this differs from the anime, the anime (obviously) is correct. The events in this take place after the first half of the Chuunin exam.

The moon was starting to rise behind the two, casting strange shadows over the two. Sasuke looked at Sakura for a brief moment, and found her bathed in the pale light. It was strange he thought. Sitting there like that, she was so ethereal, so otherworldly. Before he knew what he was doing, he reached out towards her.

Even much later, looking back, he never knew what possessed him to do that. Was it that she looked so detached sitting there? Was it that she reminded him of his mother, before her death? Could it simply be that he'd gone so long without touching a person that he could not resist this one chance for human contact? He didn't know, didn't know that he ever would. But he reached out, tentatively, and touched her face. She jerked at first, shocked, but then relaxed a bit.

He held his fingers against her cheek for just the briefest of moments, then slowly ran them down it, feeling, as he did so, a warmth of her skin, the soft smoothness of her cheek, and oddly, a gentle moistness.

After a minute he brought his hand back, confused. She was crying? Why? Was it him? Or was it something else?

He didn't want her to cry for him. But that made no sense. Why did he care? If she was too weak to hold her emotions in check, then why should it hurt him? He'd never cried. Why should he care if she did?

But the fact remained that he did care. He cared, and it hurt, that she was crying.  
What should he say? He didn't know, but he wanted to say something, anything.

"You know," she said, "it seems like a few days ago that we started at the academy. And now, here we are, ninjas. Soon, you and Naruto may become Chuunin, and I may never see either one of you again." She snorted in derision, wiped her eyes. "Funny, isn't it? After all this, to think that I'll be upset at the idea of never seeing him." She turned to him and smiled. "And you may be gone, too. I'll just be plain old Sakura, left here, following in your trail."

He didn't know what to say. He tried, started to speak, and then stopped. He tried a second time, and again he stopped. What should he say? He couldn't comfort her, couldn't offer anything. Sakura looked at him for a second, and then reached out to grab his hand, squeezed it.

Why? Her, comforting him? Why was she doing that? He didn't need comfort. He didn't need help. He was fine.... He should be the one doing the comforting, not the other way around.


	3. There, but with the Grace of God, Go I

Well, here it is, the ending....

Again, I do not own any of the ideas, characters, etc.

There are no spoilers as such in here (Assuming you've seen the first like 20 or so eps, or read the first 4 graphic novels...)

Well, without further ado, I hope you like it.

Sasuke sat there for a few minutes, trying to figure out what to say. She was comforting him? He was fine. And yet, for some reason, he felt a strange pain in his upper chest....  
The silence continued between them, as he tried to think of something to say, and found nothing. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she withdrew her hand. He felt a strange sense of emptiness as she did so, and it wasn't that her hand was so heavy. It felt as though a part of his soul was being torn out of his chest, and he wondered. _Would _he ever see her again?  
Sakura turned to him. "Thank you. Thank you so much for listening. I feel so much better now." She paused for a moment. "Oh. I'm sorry. All I've done is talk, all evening. You must be bored to death."  
He had.... comforted HER? Didn't she realize that she had been comforting him? No, perhaps she didn't. She didn't seem to understand people's emotions, the way that he could, heck, Naruto, somehow, seemed to have empathy for people. And yet, despite her lack of it, she HAD helped him.  
"No," he said. "It was.....Nice."  
She smiled. He paused for a moment, and then thought of something else. "Do you remember the fight -- with Zabuza, and Haku?"  
She nodded.  
"You know," he said, "When I was there, the only thing I could think was, are the others going to be ok. My life didn't matter. The only reason I lived..." A tear rolled down his cheek, unbidden. Why was he crying? He had promised himself that he would never cry again. And yet, somehow, it seemed ok, here. "...The only reason that I lived, was to be an avenger. But you, you and Naruto... you had a chance to be more. That was what I remember thinking when I thought I was dying. And that is what I continue to think now. Perhaps, perhaps you will be left all alone. But sometimes, sometimes we all have to be alone, or we'll go crazy. And I refuse to think you will ever follow us. Perhaps you will get to the same place we do. Perhaps your road lies elsewhere. After all who can see the future? But I refuse to believe you will follow us there. If we all reach the same place, we will all follow our own roads. And it is only fair that we do."  
She looked at him for a second, as if he was not the same Sasuke that she knew. But then she nodded. "Thank you." A large tear rolled down her cheek, fell onto his shoulder. She started to sob.  
He felt odd, very odd, but finally, he reached out and put his arm around her. And then, a few moments later, he too was sobbing. The pain, the pain of being a ninja, of keeping emotions in check and never letting others see inside you, that could only last so long. Sometimes, you just had to get a good cry.  
Finally, they both stopped. Sakura leaned over to Sasuke, and whispered in his ear. "Well, wherever your road takes you, may it make you happy. And remember, I will meet you, at the end of it, no matter where our destinations may be on the way, I will meet you at its end." And then, he felt something warm brush against his cheek, and she hurried off, into the night.  
He turned to watch her go, and then went back to watching the moon. His hand rubbed against his cheek. Who would ever believe, that he Uchiha Sasuke had been kissed? Then again, who would he ever be willing to tell?  
  
--Sorry, my portrayal of Sasuke got a little weak at the end. But there it is, my complete first fanfic. I hope my second one is better. (I hope there is a second one)

Thanks to all the people who reviewed it so far, and to all the people who will review this section. You're all great. The praise made me feel wonderful...


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